Punters were lining up at 6PM, ready for the opening of the gates. We were all keen to get a good look at the setup, sink a few quick beers and grab a good spot for the night. The overpriced figures for a beer had me thinking twice about drinking them so quickly, but The Big Top as a venue certainly captured our attention.

Within this moveable miniature circus tent, the stage was a relatively simple setup, with turntables centered on the stage, enveloped in blue lights and smoke. This was an all age’s event so we were all rubbing shoulders with people on the “other end” of the age scale – which wasn’t actually too bad. We were all there for the common cause of Hilltop Hoods after all.

The crowd’s hands were bouncing in unison as DJ Adfu exploded onto the stage in a blaze of scratches and needle drops, starting with a reworded mix of Ante Up, soon followed by Cypress Hill, Jay Z, Chris Wallace, and all time favourites Jurassic 5. Although it took some time to for Adfu to warm up, he soon left his single beat scratching technique for more complex skills. His set really showed why he is one of Adelaide’s favourite selectors. By this stage, The Big Top smelt like a school gym – though with a promise of great things to come. Sure enough, Adfu was soon joined by MC Vents – somewhat a surprise for the night. His reverberating voice around the marquee had me running for the perfect spot. With a nice display of original tracks, we were treated to some hard hitting lyrics with catchy rhythms and a lot of balls. Particularly, the standout song of Vents’ set was Five Minutes To Midnight. The bouts of rain attempting to dampen the evening couldn’t dampen the spirits of the 4,500 strong crowd.

Bounding onto the stage, spitting lyrics at the audience in their own true style and backlit by a massive LED screen, The Hilltop Hoods burst onto the stage. In a flash, everyone in the vicinity was there to see the Adelaide based duo tell us about life in their words. The massive LED screen provided a background animated images, matching their rhythmic words perfectly. Starting with new material from their recent release State Of The Art, they then delved into their all time classics for the benefit of the more diehard fans.

The whole crowd was spoken to and commanded the whole way through, spreading a massive sense of unity throughout the crowd. At certain stages the boys would have us all bouncing our hands in unison like a scene out of 8 Mile. Especially, Nosebleed Section had some audience members practically crying at the thought of perhaps being within the nosebleed section. We even got to the point of a battle between the crowd as the left half of the room sang out a huge “F$%& YOU!!!” to the opposing side, leaving The Hilltop Hoods to masterfully work this into a song. While Clown Prince made no appearance and left me feeling a teeny bit cheated at the time, this only disappointment was soon forgotten.

Everyone under The Big Top in the RNA Showgrounds particularly resonated with the second last song. As many sung along to the lyrics with eyes closed, others could only watch The Hilltop Hoods and smile in agreement…what a great night.